Bush Seeks Nicaragua Aid $9 Million Would Support Opposition In 1990 Vote

September 22, 1989|The New York Times

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration submitted a new proposal on Thursday to assist opposition groups in the Nicaraguan elections scheduled for February after its initial plan was rebuffed by Congress amid questions about its legality.

The plan seeks $9 million, including $4 million for ``non-partisan technical support of the election process.`` The $4 million would ostensibly be used for activities such as election monitoring, voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.

But the proposal leaves open the possibility that a portion of the $4 million could be used to finance some aspects of the presidential campaign of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, the opposition candidate.

Congress objected to Bush`s original proposal to finance Chamorro`s campaign by channeling more than $3 million through the National Endowment for Democracy, a private non-profit corporation that receives almost all its funds from the government.

The administration withdrew that plan last week, amid congressional complaints that it would violate the charter of the endowment.

The administration now seeks $5 million for the endowment to use in Nicaragua to support ``the democratic process,`` including election monitoring and voter registration, but not for political campaigning.

The proposal is designed to comply with a 1985 law under which the endowment is forbidden to ``finance the campaigns of candidates for public office.``

Under the administration proposal, some of $4 million earmarked for support of the ``election process`` -- which would not be channeled through the endowment -- could be made available to opposition groups including Chamorro`s coalition, the National Opposition Union.

Nothing in the proposal would explicitly prevent the use of such money in her campaign.

Democratic members of Congress said they were confused about details of the proposal and regarded $9 million as excessive, but wanted to negotiate and cooperate with Bush.